New to video editing! Need some guidance.

Hi all, I'm new to Premiere, new to video editing. I'm editing my own short film. This was the impetus for starting. I have all of my clips in the timeline. In a certain sequence, I'm trying to create a sort of "throbbing" transition. The idea is to create the effect of fading in and out of consciousness. I discovered how to apply the "Dip to Black" dissolve, but that's not exactly what I want. I don't want it to ever get all the way to black. Is there a way to achieve this? Thanks!